It’s hard to think that it has already been four years since I first stepped foot on the Suzhou campus of Renmin University to undertake a Masters Degree at the Silk Road School (SRS) in September of 2019. I often reflect on what I learned during my time at SRS, during what was a turbulent, tragic and trying time for many during the worst years of the COVID-19 pandemic. Understandably, my feelings are bittersweet. I hope to share a few glimpses into what it was like to study at the SRS.

My motivation to study at the SRS was motivated by career and personal aspirations in equal measure. At the time, I was a Policy Officer with the International Engagement team in the Victorian Public Service. In my day-to-day role I interacted with counterparts in the Jiangsu, Sichuan, Shanghai, Beijing and Hong Kong business offices to coordinate the state’s cultural and commercial engagement with China. Learning about the business and government environment in the country inspired me to understand more about them by visiting in-person, and the SRS presented the perfect opportunity.

My manager at the time encouraged me to apply. Professionally, it would build up my specialist knowledge while promoting people-to-people ties with Victoria’s sister-state, Jiangsu. The sister-state relationship celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2019, which made it a fitting time to visit. I say it was also personally motivated, as I had previously studied Chinese at Soochow University on scholarship and fallen in love with Suzhou. The city’s refined, and easy-going ambience attracted me far more than the excitable, overstimulating metropolises of Beijing and Shanghai.

Suzhou is a city which has a deep culture, but also rivals other cities in its international, outward looking attitude. The student body of the SRS is a reflection of this. Classmates hail from all corners of the globe and bring their unique perspectives and experiences. What puts SRS ahead of other schools in one way is this spirit of internationalism, grounded in the historical Silk Road and modern Belt and Road project. This gives the student cohort a shared sense of purpose beyond pure edification. Each student is there to learn the best from their classmates’ countries’ ways of doing things. At the same time, each student models and imparts the best of what their own countries have to offer. We learnt from one another in order to improve our selves, then return to our own towns, cities and countries and improve them in turn.

I benefited greatly from learning in this environment. I was challenged daily to consider the world from stances I had never been afforded during my undergraduate. The teachers were instrumental in cultivating these spaces which accepted all students’ points of view as worth airing and promoting fruitful discussions. The discussions and debates even continued long after we had left the classroom. I am reticent to name any teacher individually as this would give the appearance that I am playing favourites. However what struck me most about the teachers is that they all embody the Chinese saying that ‘A teacher for a day is a father for life’ (一日为师，终身为父). We stay in touch on WeChat and they ask after our health, share insightful articles and heartwarming anecdotes about their lives. The academic staff likewise follow up on our welfare to this day. It really gives us the sense that we aren’t just students, we’re an SRS family.

Since leaving SRS, I’ve noticed how it influences my life in many ways. After graduating, I returned to work with the Victorian Public Service in the COVID-19 quarantine agency, in the policy and legal team. My manager looked upon my law degree from SRS favourably and valued my exposure to and study of other countries’ systems of governance. This is because our state was, in many ways, responding to the evolving emergency on a day-to-day basis, and we had to look to other jurisdictions to learn best practice and adopt what was most suitable for our own circumstances. The senior role involved me assisting the agency to understand and implement the optimal legal framework to enable it to ensure people travelling to Victoria were quarantined safely. Towards 2022 this shifted towards mitigation of COVID-19 variants of concern, while constructing a purpose-built quarantine facility for the COVID-19 pandemic and future outbreaks. Without SRS, I would not have had the qualifications, temperament or maturity to have taken on and succeeded in this role.

My experience during COVID-19 and SRS has reinforced in my mind the importance of actively supporting people to remain connected, on a local and international level. Inspired by this, during the lockdowns in Melbourne I volunteered as an online Chinese teacher with the Australia-China Youth Association (ACYA). It was heartening to see that despite the international situation, people remain dedicated to promoting ties between Australia and China, and Australians remain fascinated by China’s culture and language. The work of organisations like ACYA and the Australia-China Young Professional’s Initiative (ACYPI) continues to enable productive people-to-people linkages even in the most difficult of times. I hope other Australians, like me, take the chance to learn in China, with Renmin or other universities, and keep the Australia-China relationship growing well into the future.

International students can often find themselves isolated and alienated, their perspectives are ignored or diminished in favour of the commonly accepted ways of seeing things among the dominant cohort in their host country. However, at SRS, we all came on an equal footing and nobody was given precedence over another. We shared our experiences openly and honestly and learned from one another without judgement. I now carry forward this sense of egalitarianism in my personal and professional life. I am confident that future students will be able to find great learning and growth at SRS, and the school will go from strength to strength.

Will Breedon – 2019 SRS student，he holds a Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Economics from Monash University and a Master’s in Law from Renmin University of China. His career background is in policy advice across multiple departments in Victorian Government, Australia. Additionally, Will has extensive volunteering experience in organisations dedicated to improving Australians’ language skills and cultural ties with Asia. His research interests include popular culture and music (cpop and idol outfits), international relations and public policy. He is currently pursuing a pivot to a digital career to pursue greater flexibility and challenge.